Margherita Pizza

This easy-to-make pizza recipe allows you to use your own oven or outdoor grill to bake delicious Margherita artisan pizzas that even most pizzerias can’t duplicate. With fast prep time and costing less than $2.00 to make, these pizzas are certain to be a big hit for family and friends.

The key to success for any good recipe is to always use the freshest ingredients.

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Pizza Ready to Bake

Margherita Pizza

Margherita Pizza

Pizza Ready to Bake

Margherita Pizza

Margherita Pizza

Enjoy this Pizza With:

Caesar Salad

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Also Use This Dough For:

Artisan Bread

Preparation

1. Make the No-knead Pizza Dough
In a medium bowl, mix the salt in the flour with a fork, then stir in the yeast. Add the water and stir until you have a moist (not soupy), sticky dough. Don’t over mix, but make sure that all of the dry flour has been thoroughly incorporated into the dough and is sticky to the touch. With your spoon, clean the sides of the bowl as much as possible, then form a rough dough ball in the middle of the bowl. Double seal the bowl with plastic wrap, cover with a towel and set aside at room temperature for about 12 hours until the dough rises and doubles in size.1 If you want to use this pizza dough at a later date, you can cut the dough into thirds, wrap the dough packs, and refrigerate for up to 7 days.2 The pizza dough will continue to proof while in the refrigerator and develop even more flavor and aroma.(click images below to enlarge)

After the dough rises, dust your work surface with flour and pour the dough out in one piece with a plastic scraper. Shape into a loaf and cut into 3 equal pieces. 10 ounce dough balls are the perfect amount to make 12″ pizzas. Nudge and tuck in the bottom corners of the dough balls toward the center to shape each into a round ball, place on the lightly floured surface with the tucked seam side down, then cover to proof (rise) at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The dough balls will be ready to use when they double in size.• Also see How to Make Pizza Dough for a step-by-step tutorial

2. Preheat the Pizza Stone and Gather Ingredients
With the dough balls almost proofed, place a pizza stone in your oven3 or grill4 and preheat for at least 30 minutes on high – ideally to a temperature of 500 to 550 degrees – then gather your pizza ingredients.
To prepare the Margherita pizza, you will need the 6 base ingredients, plus toppings for this pizza in the following amounts:

To prevent a soggy pizza crust, always use a thick pizza sauce, and towel dry any wet ingredients before populating your pizza.

3. Shape the Pizza
With the dough balls proofed, the pizza stone and oven or grill preheating, and all of your pizza ingredients in place, you’re now ready to shape and assemble your pizza. Begin by forming the pizza with your lightly floured fingertips (or knuckles if you have long fingernails) by gently working from the middle of the dough to the outside within an inch of the rim. The more of a lip you leave on the rim, the larger the airy edge will be after baking.

Never use a rolling pin! There will be some air bubbles forming on the edge, but take care to leave all but the largest ones in place, as they provide the airy crusty rim (cornicione) most people love in an artisan pizza.
Over the time that the pizza stone is preheating, continue working the dough out in a circle every several minutes until you achieve a 12″ pizza dough shell, letting it rest in between for a few minutes covered with a moist towel. It may be necessary to carefully pick it up by the edge with the fingers of both hands and let the weight of itself expand for a few seconds, by holding the dough like a steering wheel and gently rotating it as it naturally stretches to form a larger circle. If any holes develop during shaping, simply fold over some of the dough next to the hole and press down to repair it.

The secret to a large and airy edge is to work the dough from the middle outward without pressing down (flattening) the rim.

With the dough round finished, sprinkle some corn meal on the peel, then carefully move the pizza dough to the peel before populating it with your ingredients. With the pizza shell on the peel, adjust the edges to maintain its round shape. Pick up the peel by its handle, keep it flat and gently shake it back and forth to ensure that the dough moves freely over the corn meal.

4. Assemble the Pizza
Make sure that all of your ingredients are in place before assembling your pizza. If there are any delays in preparation after you add the sauce, the dough can become soggy and make it difficult to slide from the peel to the pizza stone.

The Basesix ingredients make a delicious gourmet cheese pizza, and create a blank canvas for most toppings you might add.

Margherita Pizza Assembly

1. Start by adding the Basesix ingredients with a few swirls of extra virgin olive oil over the surface of the dough. Always leave an inch or so from the rim untouched with the olive oil and pizza sauce to ensure a nice rise of the edge. The edge (cornicione) will not rise and get airy if there is any moisture from the oil or sauce.2. Add the pizza sauce to the middle of the pizza shell. In a circular motion with a spoon, spread the sauce out evenly over the pizza dough, making sure to leave the edge untouched.3. Evenly sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning.4. Evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or 50/50 mix).5. Add 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil over the sauce.6. Add 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of fresh 1/4″ thick mozzarella slices over the top.

Toppings
Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt over the tomato slices, then add the slices to the pizza and bake. Add the fresh basil after the pizza is done.• Also see: Cheese Pizza for similar flavors• Also see: Tomato Jam Pizza for similar flavors

5. Bake the Pizza
You can bake your pizza at home using your kitchen oven or outdoor grill. The advantage to using the grill is being able to add wood chips during baking and not adding any heat to the kitchen. Either way the pizzas will turn out delicious, and often better than your local pizzeria, since many hand toss or use a rolling pin and most bake with a deck or conveyor oven with cooking temperatures that are less than you use at home!

Using an Outdoor Grill
With your grill preheated on high for about 30 minutes, the temperature on the surface of the pizza stone should be about 500 degrees. This would be a good time to add an aluminum tray with wood chips for that traditional wood smoked flavor (we use everything from hickory and mesquite – to apple chips). If you have a grate-level infrared burner on the side, turn it on a few minutes before baking to help increase the surface temperature for your pizza toppings.
Shake the peel back and forth to make sure that the populated pizza still moves freely over the corn meal (or semolina) before you transfer it to the stone.6 When you’re ready and the pizza is moving freely on the peel, open the grill cover and drop the forward edge of the pizza peel at a slight angle, touching the back side of the stone. With a steady forward motion, allow the edge of the pizza to drop on the back side of the hot stone – then quickly and smoothly jerk the peel back toward you to slide the peel out from underneath, dropping the pizza in the middle of the stone. Immediately close the grill cover and set your timer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, open the cover, place the peel half-way under the pizza and rotate the pizza 90 degrees. Remove the peel with the pizza still centered in the same location and close the lid for another 5 minutes.7 At this point, the bottom should be golden, the toppings bubbling, and the edge of the pizza is rising and starting to get a nice char in places. When the pizza is done, remove it with a peel, turn off the grill, then let the pizza rest on a wood peel or a cutting board to absorb the moisture and cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Using a Kitchen Oven
Position the oven rack in the top 1/3 position (usually the 2nd from the top position) about 7 inches from the top heating element. Place the pizza stone on the rack against the back of the oven, then preheat the oven on high to 550 degrees for 30 minutes. With the oven preheated, quickly add your ingredients to the pizza shell already sitting on the peel. When you’re ready to bake your pizza, turn on the oven light, then drop the pizza onto the stone by placing the edge of the pizza on the back of the stone, then smoothly jerking the peel back toward you to slide the peel out from underneath.
Bake at 550 degrees for about 4 minutes, rotate the pizza 90 degrees, then turn the oven to broil. Watching constantly, let the pizza continue to bake under the broiler for another 3 minutes7 until the cheese is bubbling and the airy edge rises and starts to char. After 3 minutes on broil, turn off the oven and leave the pizza on the stone for another 2 minutes with the door cracked open to let the hot pizza stone finish cooking the crust.

When the pizza is done, remove it with the peel, and let it rest on a wood peel or cutting board to absorb the moisture and cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Buon Appetito!

Time Required to Make a Gourmet Pizza
Making a pizza consists of 4 primary steps: (1) Making the dough for 3 pizzas (5 minutes, or about 2 minutes per pizza); (2) After the dough rises, cut the dough into three pieces, cover and set aside (3 minutes, or 1 minute per pizza); (3) Gather the ingredients and assembly time for 3 pizzas (15 minutes, or 5 minutes per pizza); (4) Baking time for each pizza (about 10 minutes).Total time to prepare, assemble, and bake a pizza: About 20 minutes.8

Footnotes1. Fermentation time depends on a number of factors, especially the room temperature. A cooler environment takes longer (18 to 24 hours), while warmer temperatures may take as little as 8 to 10 hours. Salt is also a factor. The more salt added to the dough, the slower the yeast develops and longer the fermentation time. To determine when the first fermentation is finished and the gluten has developed, the dough should have more than doubled in size with lots of bubbles and will cling in long strands on the side of the bowl when you tilt it. To speed up the fermentation time, use warm or hot water (never boiling), a touch more yeast, a little less salt, then set the bowl aside to proof in a warmer room where the temperature is 78 to 80 degrees rather than the typical 72 to 74 degrees. If you accelerate the fermentation, keep in mind that more aroma and flavor is developed with longer rise times.2. To refrigerate: After the initial 12-to-18 hour fermentation period, pour out the 30 ounces of dough, cut into three equal 10-oz pieces, nudge and tuck in the bottom corners of the dough toward the center to shape it into a round ball, then place on the lightly floured surface with the tucked seam side down, then immediately double wrap each piece with plastic wrap, slide each wrapped dough ball into a Ziploc sandwich bag, and place in the refrigerator for up to 7 days until needed. When you’re ready to make a pizza, pull out a pizza dough pack and let it sit on the counter wrapped for 1 hour to get close to room temperature before unwrapping, covering with a damp cloth, and letting it rise again for another 45 minutes before forming the dough into a pizza and adding your ingredients.
See How to Make Pizza Dough for more information on refrigerating pizza dough packs.3. Your oven should be preheated to 550 degrees for about 30 minutes with the oven rack and pizza stone in the top 1/3 position (usually the 2nd from the top position), about 7 inches from the top heating element.4. Depending on how close the pizza stone is to the flames on your grill, you can use an iron griddle or skillet under the pizza stone to keep the stone an inch or two off the grill grates. This provides a barrier to isolate the flames from the pizza stone that otherwise would get too hot and burn the bottom of the pizza. It is not required for oven use. If you have a grate-level infrared burner on the side, turn it on 10 minutes before baking your pizza for increased heat. Note: only use infrared burners that are located on the side, not directly under or over the pizza stone, as it can crack it.5. Italian seasoning is a dry herb mix available at the grocery store (McCormick, Spice Islands) that consist of dried Oregano, Garlic, Marjoram, Onion, Rosemary, Basil, Savory, and Sage. Used in moderation, Italian herb seasoning can add another layer of traditional Italian flavors to your pizza, without overwhelming it like Oregano alone can.6. If the wet ingredients have been sitting on the pizza dough for more than a couple minutes, it will stick to the peel and never transfer to the stone. If that happens, try to carefully lift the edges and add a little more corn meal to loosen it. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to start over. Just make sure that the peel is clean and completely dry before reassembling your pizza.7. Actual baking times vary depending on the amount of ingredients on your pizza and the temperature of your oven or grill. Test a few pizzas and monitor the results, then adjust the times and temperatures accordingly.8. Does not include unattended fermentation and proofing time for developing the pizza dough, optional time to make pizza dough packs to refrigerate for later use, nor the preheating time for the oven or grill prior to baking the pizza.

Note: While this recipe is very forgiving, it is important to follow it as closely as possible for the best results.